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Monday, January 23, 2012

Plays of the Week – Featuring the Knicks, Knuggets and the Black Mamba

From the always excellent Hoopism, a fascinating comparison of the early returns from the Class 2012 and how they compare to those of recent rookie crops (Spoiler alert! It ain’t shabby), accompanied by an phenomenal illustration by Joey Cienian.

Quick aside: this site has been an incredible addition to the hoops blogosphere. If you are not reading their stuff on a regular basis, I strongly encourage that you begin doing so. Like, right now. I’ll wait.

Ok, you back? Great! Let’s move on…

Slam chatted with one of your (I may knot now you, but I know) favorite players of the 1990s, a superstar whose illumination of the NBA was sadly but short by his own willingness to play through pain, Penny Hardaway. Excellent stuff.

Hopefully this takes some of the sting out of the whole “no statue” thing.

In case you’d forgotten, David Stern (and his 29 “partners”) still own the New Orleans Hornets. Thankfully this may not be the case for too much longer. At a fairly significant milestone in the sale process, Hornets247’s Joe Gerrity offers an excellent breakdown of potential buyers.

An absolute must read for anyone with a proclivity for (perish the thought!) occasionally wagering a dollar or two on the Association.

At Forum Blue & Gold Darius- as only he can- took a reasoned, level-headed look at the “work in progress” that is the Lakers and a unique challenge faced by coach Mike Brown in 2011-12.

And finally, we have Mamba Week on the NBA blogosphere. Sure, these efforts actually span a couple of weeks, but it’d tough to cite one journey into the heart and mind of Kobe Bryant (I threw my own hat into the ring as well) in the absence of the others:

Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski kicked things off two weeks ago, with a great look at Kobe’s iron will and defiance when faced with questions about a) his style of play, b) his Lakers mates and c) his team’s ongoing status as a true title contender.

Days later, at HoopSpeak, Zach Harper laid out a rather convincing case that Kobe is in fact not like you me- in no small part because he is undead.